Camp Hill needs 'Officer Reasonable' on the force: PennLive letters

One recent morning while driving toward Camp Hill on Route 15, I turned onto Yale Avenue to get out of the heavy traffic. Immediately, I felt the safety of a quiet residential street. In my 43 years of living in Camp Hill, I had made the turn onto Yale Avenue hundreds of times.

This time, however, a police officer was waiting and waved me to a stop. I had not noticed the small signs prohibiting a turn onto Yale Avenue during rush hours. Sorry, officer. My mistake. I waited for the ticket that I figured was coming my way. Maybe $45? Lesson learned.

I was handed a ticket for $112. I wasn't expecting Officer Friendly, but I was expecting Officer Reasonable. Whether we are parents, teachers, police officers, or the coach of the Rutgers men's basketball team, discipline must be appropriate to the offense. If not, respect for the person and the institution is diminished.

Why are we such a punitive society? We put more of our citizens behind bars than any country in the world. What if we fostered a sense of equity and respect for law enforcement and not a sense of antagonism? Would we still be number one?